Cameroon

This section contains a brief description of the legal system of Cameroon.

French Cameroon became independent of French-administered UN trusteeship on 1 January 1960. British Cameroon merged with French Cameroon in 1961 to form a federal republic, which was replaced in 1972 with a unitary state. Paul Biya has been the President of Cameroon since 6 November 1982.

Biya introduced political reforms within a single-party system in the 1980s. He accepted the introduction of multi-party politics in the early 1990s, and narrowly won the 1992 presidential election with 40% of the plural, single-ballot vote. He was re-elected by large margins in 1997, 2004, and 2011. Opposition politicians and Western governments have alleged voting irregularities and fraud on these occasions.

Cameroon has a mixed legal system of English common law, French civil law, and customary law.

Cameroon has a constitution dating from 1996 which in the preamble provides that every accused person is presumed innocent until found guilty during a hearing conducted in strict compliance with the rights of defence; and that under no circumstances shall any person be subjected to torture, to cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment.

A comprehensive listing of the laws of Cameroon is not available online.